Chinese Vice President Han Zheng will represent his country at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington. “We are willing to work with the new US government to improve dialogue and communication,” Beijing said.
China announced Friday that Vice President Han Zheng will attend the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday.
Beijing said the move follows “the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation in the vision and growth of its relationship with the United States.”
“We are willing to work with the new US government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship, and find the right way so that the two countries get along with each other,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement Friday morning.
The announcement comes more than a month after Trump will invite Chinese President Xi Jinping and other foreign leaders to attend his inauguration. It is an unprecedented measure that marks a break with tradition, since historically foreign ambassadors have attended presidential inaugurations.
Analysts say Beijing is showing “goodwill” toward the new Trump administration by sending Han.
“China does not have an established tradition of allowing the president to attend the inauguration ceremonies of other heads of state,” said Zhou Bo, a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
“Sending the vice president to attend Trump's inauguration ceremony is the best option and shows Beijing's goodwill toward President-elect Trump,” he told Voice of America by phone.
While Beijing attempts to respond positively to Trump's invitation, other experts say Han's attendance will remain largely ceremonial.
“I don't expect anything concrete from Han's trip to Washington,” said Zhiqun Zhu, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Bucknell University in the US state of Pennsylvania.
Despite the ceremonial nature of Han's attendance at the inauguration, Zhu said Beijing's move could still “lay a good foundation” for US-China relations under the second Trump administration.
“We hope that a friendly atmosphere will be created that can be maintained in the coming weeks and months, so that when both sides sit down to discuss substantive issues, perhaps an agreement can be reached,” he told the VOA by phone.
Trump's return to the White House has created uncertainties for China, which has faced a persistent economic recession in recent years.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to impose tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese goods. Zhou said the possibility of high tariffs has made Beijing cautious about the outlook for U.S.-China relations under the second Trump administration.
“We don't know how Trump will play his cards, so I think China will wait to see how his China policies develop,” he told the VOA.
Despite threatening to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump said the two could have a good relationship and that he has been in contact with Chinese leaders through representatives.
“And I think we'll probably get along very well, I predict,” she said during an interview with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Jan. 6, adding that the relationship has to be “a two-way street.”
Additionally, Trump wants to name several politicians known for their hawkish stances on China, including Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Rep. Mike Waltz as White House national security adviser.
Rubio, during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, described China as “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever faced.”
“They have elements that the Soviet Union never had. They are a technological adversary and competitor, an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor,” he said.
Despite Rubio's seemingly tough rhetoric on China during the hearing, Zhu said it's too early to say whether that language will translate into actual policies toward China in the new administration.
“Some of Trump's appointees seem aggressive toward China, but since they work for Trump, I don't think they will overturn Trump's policies,” he told VOA.
Zhu said that since it is unclear how Trump will shape his policies toward China, Washington and Beijing will “move forward cautiously.”
“Both sides had a terrible experience during Trump's first term, so it seems like they want to start over this time,” he said.